Clyfford Still Museum

There are few museums in the world devoted to the
work of a single artist—think of the Picasso Museum
in Paris, Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, Andy
Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and Donald Judd’s
installations in Marfa, Texas. And now, Denver has
the Clyfford Still Museum. After seven years of negotiation and
construction, the 28,000-square-foot exhibition and study center
opened in November 2011. Without a doubt, it is another jewel in
the city’s significant and sophisticated civic crown, representing
a successful partnership between public and private interests.
Those unfamiliar with the story of the museum’s establishment,
however, might have a few questions. Why Clyfford Still?
And, why Denver? The answers reveal a fascinating and baroque
story that involves a singular artist with an abiding desire to
control his legacy, an eccentric one-page will, a visionary mayor,
and a passionate group of donors.

Jonathan “Jon” Abrams loved what he saw and bought what he
loved. That simple directive guided the breathtaking art collection of
the Albuquerque art maven, a recently retired cardiologist, awardwinning
University of New Mexico professor of medicine, curator, and
friend of the arts.

Larry Bell caught the Los Angeles art wave in the late 1950s and has been successfully
navigating those often turbulent waters ever since. Instead of looking to art history for
guidance like their New York counterparts, Bell and a handful of renegade Southern
California artists found inspiration in their immediate surroundings—lackluster
architecture, tacky billboards, and the prevalent hot-rod and surf cultures of their day.

Ted Larsen has the eyes of an artist, the hands of a man
used to working with materials and machinery, and the
mind of a philosopher-visionary.

For him, making art is as much about the contemplation and
planning that goes into a piece as it is about the actual construction
of the work—or even the finished piece itself. He cares
deeply about art and its interface with both the theoretical world
and the practical; and when the tall, lean Larsen comes into his
intimate studio, he fits it to himself as if it were a shimmering
carapace he drapes over his being.
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